![]() One of the waiters has worked there 40 years. Look Mar’s son, Do, who runs the restaurant now, says their cuisine has undergone no significant changes in 50 years. The world changed, Los Angeles changed, but the Far East was set in its ways. Then the Civic Center expanded, creating more business. Japanese families returned, often renting the restaurant’s mezzanine for wedding receptions and wakes. Then came World War II, and the internment of the Japanese who had given the Far East so much business. “It was a bad time,” he said, shaking his head. Mar is 75 now, and although a stroke hobbled him about 20 years ago, he is at the counter almost every day, a genial host of few words. Mar, a native of Canton, was 22 when he, a brother and two cousins opened their restaurant in 1935. That is why, Look Mar explains, the Far East is in Little Tokyo, not Chinatown. “Japanese people like Chinese food,” the man behind the cash register says. It has always been a gritty little bit player. But then, among Los Angeles’ old-time eateries, the Far East was never a big star like Musso and Frank’s, not even a familiar character actor like Canters or the Pantry. The scene is fleeting, inconclusive-Marlowe, it turns out, found the wrong dame-and the Far East was barely noticeable. ![]() She’s in Camarillo and she ain’t comin’ out.” The rise of global entertainment and opening of Hollywood brought new opportunities, but the early stars of the Chop Suey Circuit paved the way for other Asian American entertainers.“Moose, I’m sorry, I really am, but.” And it was when television came into people's homes that, right away, nightclubs started to die,” says See. “They got married, they moved to the suburbs, they got a lawnmower and a washing machine and a television. See says the nightclub era came to an end for Asian Americans and others after World War II. “Just incredibly talented, and if they had been white, or if it had been today, things might have been very different for them,” says See. They were billed the Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the most famous dance couple of the day. Lisa See says other ethnic stars included the dancers Dorothy Toy and Paul Wing. She appeared opposite Cary Grant in the 1932 short film Singapore Sue. Like Oye, Asian American nightclub entertainer Anna Chang also made the transition to Hollywood. Although the book is fiction, they are inspired by real-life characters from the Chop Suey Circuit. See’s novel "China Dolls" is the story of three female friends who become entertainers. And what they would do, they would travel from club to club,” says See. “There was the Borscht Belt for Jewish entertainers and there was the Chitlin' Circuit for African American entertainers, and similarly there was what was called the Chop Suey Circuit for Chinese Americans - actually Asian, all Asian Americans. ![]() Writer Lisa See says in that segregated era, entertainment venues served different ethnic groups in clubs named for ethnic dishes. ![]() ![]() Oye appeared in the 1945 film On Stage, Everybody. They were well-known names in the Chinatowns of San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles - names like Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star, and nightclub entertainer Beatrice Fung Oye. VOA spoke with the author about the real-life performers who inspired the story. Asian American entertainers are at the center of Lisa See's latest novel, "China Dolls." It is set in the 1930s and ‘40s, in the network of nightclubs known as the Chop Suey Circuit. ![]()
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